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Sadly, Google Reader is leaving the world next week. They are calling it “retirement” but that’s a nice why of saying they are killing it. But, we’ve all mourned and we knew this day would be coming. July 1st is just about here, and for those of us that are procrastinators are freaking out about transferring RSS feeds and finding a new reader that we like.

Before doing anything, and definitely before July 1st, make sure to make a copy of all of your data through Google Takeout. You’ll receive the data as an XML file and it will be easily transferrable to whichever reader you choose to use.

Speaking of choosing a reader, there’s a lot out there. Feedly seems to be a favorite alternative to Google Reader for many. However, make sure to look around and do your research before choosing one. After all, you’re going to be spending a lot of time with this program. Here’s a good list of readers to check out.

When choosing which program you want to use, consider the following:

How important are images?

Do you want to be blasted with ads? Do you mind ads?

How do you want to consume your information?

Do you want something that is similar to Google reader or are you ready for a big change?

Do you want a program that has been around for a while and has fixed all major glitches?

These questions are important because it can help you weed out many of the new startups that rushed to create a program in only a few months that would replace Google Reader. You don’t want to get stuck with something that will die on you again, or won’t be reliable.

Finding a feed reader that works for you might be a little frustrating, but it will be worth it in the end. You’ll be able to consume news the way you want and tailor it to your needs.